HIV Research: Aging Process May Be Hastened by the Virus

According to Elizabeth Crabb Breen, “This study allowed us the ability to examine the viral infection itself and, at the end of the day, take the same person and examine them before HIV infection and after HIV infection.” In the context of an individual’s life with HIV, two to three years after HIV infection is a very brief period. Living with HIV for just two to three years revealed that it has the potential to cut someone’s life expectancy by five years… only after the initial infection, she noted. They investigate how HIV impacts DNA methylation, which occurs when cells switch genes on or off in response to physiological changes. This study’s focus on epigenetic modifications—defined as “changes in DNA that modify the function of genes but not the actual DNA itself”—was essential.

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